Halogens have been removed from gaseous mixtures using organic solvents to selectively absorb halogens for later recovery and by using alkaline materials such as lime or sodium hydroxide. These previous methods have several disadvantages. The reversably absorbing organic solvents must have a finite vapor pressure of halogen to be able to reevolve the absorbed gas. Further, the solvents used tend to be unusual materials with high cost and uncertain toxicity. The alkaline materials lack reversability of absorbtion and are both toxic and corrosive. This invention solves the problems of trace halogens in the treated material and toxicity in the scrubbing material. The scrubbing material in this invention comprises vegetable oil or unsaturated vegetable oil, surfactant or detergent, and water.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,990 uses a detergent foam to blanket released chlorine gas but not absorb it as in the current invention. U.S. Pat. No. 2,124,426 reacts halogens with unsaturated hydrocarbons, as do U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,655,801 and 4,018,880, but none of these patents combine the use of surfactant as in the current invention and none use vegetable oil.